Today we chat with Ruby Yeh! We discuss Ruby's experience growing up as Taiwanese Australian and the pressure she has felt around achieving. We also delve into art prizes, chat about dealing with self doubt, and hear about Ruby's adventures.

(Sorry for the background noise - it's hard to find a quiet place in the big city!)

Ruby Yu-Lu Yeh is a Taiwanese-Australian ceramic artist in Meanjin/ Brisbane. She uses wheel-throwing and hand-building techniques to create and develop works that can be sculptural and functional. Ruby’s current exploration focuses on creating vessels with texts as a form of meditation, investigating an internal dialogue between her Eastern upbringing and Western education. Ruby has exhibited in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Japan and Taiwan. She was a finalist in the National Emerging Art Prize (2021 and 2023) and a finalist with a Highly Commended Award in The Siliceous Award for Ceramics Excellence (2023). She won the City of Townsville Art Collection Award in the North Queensland Ceramic Awards (2024). She is also a student of Urasenke Chado (Japanese tea ceremony) under the guidance of Sensei Tomoko (Soho) White. Ruby worked for editor Montessa Maack as the assistant editor for The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 63 No 3, November 2024.

Website: https://www.yehceramics.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yehceramics/

Email: yehceramics@gmail.com

'Raising Kids and Making Pots' article: https://australianceramics.com/assets/parenting-article-in-full-jac-633.pdf

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Talk to us via email birdsofclaypodcast@gmail.com or DM @birdsofclay_podcast.

Find us on Instagram
Rora @aurora_elwell
Jane @jane.orme.pottery

Welcome to 2025 and our second season!

In this episode we're having a cuppa and catching up. Chatting about the busy end of 2024, current projects, and goals and expectations of 2025. We have some wonderful interviews coming up that we're very excited for and fingers crossed a wonderful new way to support the podcast through Patreon coming soon.

Thanks for supporting us, we're so excited for this season!

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Talk to us via email birdsofclaypodcast@gmail.com or DM @birdsofclay_podcast.

Find us on Instagram
Rora @aurora_elwell
Jane @jane.orme.pottery

Welcome to Clay Connections, our short side series.

In this episode we are chatting with the wonderful Holly Macdonald. At the time of recording, Holly was undertaking a residency at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop https://www.ssw.org.uk/. We chatted about this experience, working with clay through performance, community practice and the ups and downs of living a creative life. A wonderful inspiring chat!

Holly Macdonald is an independent artist working across ceramics, performance, interdisciplinary collaboration and community practice. Through her practice she explores the dynamic relationship between maker, material, and place. By following clay into often unknown sculptural outcomes, Holly aims to foreground material agency and remain open to what we might learn about ourselves and our world from working with such a soft and responsive material.

Currently based in Muloobinba/ Newcastle, Holly has exhibited work throughout Australia including at Maitland Regional Art Gallery, Lake Macquarie's Multi-Arts Pavilion, mima, Cement Fondu, Firstdraft and Sabbia Gallery. They have undertaken residencies in the Northern Territory, France, Belgium and most recently at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Scotland.

As well as maintaining a studio practice, Holly teaches ceramics and has contributed time and enthusiasm to organisations such as The Australian Ceramics Association, The Creator Incubator (Muloobina/ Newcastle) and kil.n.it Experimental Ceramics, Sydney. She is a graduate of the National Art School and holds an Honours degree in Fine Art from RMIT.

https://www.instagram.com/h_ollymacdonald/

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Talk to us via email birdsofclaypodcast@gmail.com or DM @birdsofclay_podcast.

Find us on Instagram
Rora @aurora_elwell
Jane @jane.orme.pottery

Welcome to Clay Connections, our short side series.

Today we chat with the very talented Samuel Leighton-Dore. Sam is a screenwriter, director and interdisciplinary visual artist based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, living and working on the lands of the Kombumerri families from Yugambeh Language Region.

Sam's calmness, warm nature and humour shine through while we chat about vulnerability, toxic masculinity, social media and our struggles with boundaries.

Please check out the below links, especially the smile tiles - they really do make you smile.

https://www.instagram.com/thesmiletiles/
https://www.instagram.com/samleightondore/
https://www.sadmanstudio.com

If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help now, call triple zero (000). You can also call Lifeline on 13 11 14 — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

You can also find other supports here https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/mental-health-helplines

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Talk to us via email birdsofclaypodcast@gmail.com or DM @birdsofclay_podcast.

Find us on Instagram
Rora @aurora_elwell
Jane @jane.orme.pottery

Welcome to Clay Connections, our short side series.

It's our first international chat! Today, Jane is speaking with Eva Masterman from Newcastle, England.

Eva Masterman is an artist and educator working with clay for over 16 years, in both sculpture and collaborative participation. She is the founder of The Clay Commons, a developing organisation and podcast that explores clay as an agent for change and community studios as sites of emancipatory education and anticapitalist organising.

We chat about the changing face of clay education, the rise of the studio model, creating more inclusive communities and Eva's passion—creating a network of radical community clay studios outside the pressure of capitalism.

@evamasterman

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Talk to us via email birdsofclaypodcast@gmail.com or DM @birdsofclay_podcast.

Find us on Instagram
Rora @aurora_elwell
Jane @jane.orme.pottery

Welcome to Clay Connections, our short side series.

Today Jane visits Monte Lupo; an amazing clay studio and cafe that provide employment opportunities for artists living with a disability.

https://www.montelupoarts.org.au/
https://www.instagram.com/montelupoarts/

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Talk to us via email birdsofclaypodcast@gmail.com or DM @birdsofclay_podcast.

Find us on Instagram
Rora @aurora_elwell
Jane @jane.orme.pottery

Welcome to our short side series — Clay Connections!

In a new series of the podcast, we are focusing on wellbeing, community and creativity. We believe in the power of creativity to heal and bring people together.

In this first episode we talk about our own journeys with mental health, when clay becomes work, process vs outcome, imposter syndrome, teaching, community and boundaries.

If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help now, call triple zero (000). You can also call Lifeline on 13 11 14 — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

You can also find other supports here https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/mental-health-helplines

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Talk to us via email birdsofclaypodcast@gmail.com or DM @birdsofclay_podcast.

Find us on Instagram
Rora @aurora_elwell
Jane @jane.orme.pottery

This week we were joined by Rachel North, an educator and multi-disciplinary artist working on Yuggera Ugarapul Country. Rachel's work explores the complex connections between landscape and memory. Using ceramics, painting and textiles to communicate her conceptual ideas, Rachel tells us how her practice has evolved over time to cross creative disciplines and deepen her understanding of how place can hold and hinder memory.

Rachel tells us about her experiences as an arts educator of the next generation and how she engages her students with the medium of clay. Lastly we ask Rachel how to begin working on a big project, and what's her piece of advice for other makers?

Keep in touch with Rachel and see her latest work here: @maple_and_raven_studio
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Talk to us via email birdsofclaypodcast@gmail.com or DM @birdsofclay_podcast.

Find us on Instagram
Rora @aurora_elwell
Jane @jane.orme.pottery